DAVOS, Switzerland - The high-profile
Davos meeting of the international political,
business, economic and academic elite began on
Wednesday on the somber note that globalization is
facing major threats due to worsening climate
change, growing income disparities, escalating
barriers to the movement of people, and global
political and economic instability.

"We
are living in a schizophrenic world," Klaus
Schwab, founder and chief executive of the World
Economic Forum, said at a press

conference, arguing that
"there are so many underlying imbalances,
fragilities, and inconsistencies" that need to be
addressed on a war footing if the world is to be
made a safe place. He said there are 23 risks
that are posing a major challenge to
globalization, especially climate change and the
stalemate in global trade negotiations. The
situation in the Middle East is another major
problem that needs to be addressed on a firm
footing, he suggested, indicating that Davos is
the best platform that can set the stage for
arriving at appropriate answers on these global
risks.

The central theme of this year's
meeting is "shifting power equations", which aims
to grapple with ongoing changes in the world.

The Davos meeting, which is strongly
identified with the super-rich, who have made huge
gains from globalization since 1991, has attracted
almost 2,400 participants this year. The list of
participants reads like an international who's who
in global business and politics.

It
includes 24 heads of government, including German
Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, President Lula da Silva of Brazil and
South African President Thabo Mbeki. Top chief
executive officers of the Fortune 500 companies
and an assorted mix of academics, social activists
and religious representatives have turned up to
discuss the burning issues of the day - but from
the perspective of the established order.

Some 223 sessions will discuss a range of
issues. The list sounds like a "dog's dinner",
said one media analyst, arguing that she is
somewhat baffled by the range of issues that are
discussed, and the conclusions reached year after
year.

Climate change tops the list of
issues at this year's meeting, with Schwab calling
for concerted action at various levels, but there
is no consensus among the world's corporate bosses
on how to address this issue.

The
consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers released a
study on Tuesday indicating that 31% of chief
executives are "not at all concerned" about global
warming and climate change, while 28% are "not
very concerned". The study suggested that only 14%
are "extremely concerned" about climate change,
while 26% are "somewhat concerned".

If
this is what companies think about climate change,
it is not clear what impact the Davos meeting can
make on this issue, said an Asian business
representative, arguing that the focus on climate
change is constantly shifting to emerging
economies, particularly China and India.

India's top telecommunications magnate,
Sunil Bharti Mittal, said his country is ready to
engage in the debate on climate change and even
willing to consider some commitments, provided
there is uninterrupted access to nuclear fuel and
state-of-the-art technologies that can drastically
reduce carbon emissions.

With US President
George W Bush having finally spoken on "global
climate change" in his State of the Union speech
on Tuesday, analysts in Davos believe that
Washington will no longer be part of the problem
on this burning issue. Any post-Kyoto Protocol
agreement is now expected to see active US
engagement.

Aside from climate change,
rising income disparities, both in rich and in
poor countries, were at center stage on the first
day during various sessions on the threats to
globalization.

"We are witnessing threats
to globalization, escalating fears about
increasing dislocation, and a return to a degree
of protectionism," warned Coca-Cola chief E
Neville Isdell. He is worried that the train of
globalization is being removed from the rails
because of these threats.

Ernesto Zedillo,
director of the Yale Center for the Study of
Globalization, said at one session that the threat
for globalization is coming not from China and
India, which have become global centers for
manufacturing and services respectively, but from
the very powerful industrialized countries that
are closing their doors to the movement of people
and access to technology.

Sunil Bharti
Mittal, who is launching a joint venture with
Wal-Mart in India, expressed concern that rich
countries have closed their doors to international
migration and the short-term movement of skilled
personnel. He argued that the world, especially
countries in North America and Europe, have to
adapt to India's people of "global talent",
suggesting that skilled personnel in India must be
allowed short-term movement given the shortage of
such workers in the rich countries.

If
there is no access to easy movement of skilled
personnel from India, the Indian government must
not open its market to farm products from the
West, Mittal suggested.